SSCC spends approximately $50,000 per year on printing. This includes supplies, equipment maintenance, and personnel time. Although SSCC does not charge individuals for printing, SSCC's sponsoring agencies pay based on their members' usage. The SSCC sends a monthly printing report to the chairs and directors of SSCC's sponsoring departments and agencies which contains individual printing totals for all of their members. In addition, we send individual monthly printing report to SSCC members who rank in the top 100. For most months last year, this would have been those printing more than 500 pages.

Keep in mind that it costs approximately $.06 for every page you print on SSCC printers. The imputed printing cost is printed on the yellow cover sheet of your print job. Visit our View Printing page for a detailed accounting of your Windows printing history.

Printing Guidelines

Below are some guidelines for reducing printing costs:

• Always print double-sided.
• Print four pages per sheet of paper (2-up) when possible. Instructions for Linux are available at https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/sscc/pubs/7-28.htm. Windows users can specify "2 up" after clicking Properties from the Print dialog box.
• Never print more than one copy of a file. This includes theses and dissertations. Use a copier if you need multiple copies. Copier prices vary, but department copiers cost less than $.01 per page (about 1/10th that of printing on SSCC printers).
• Do not use SSCC printers for personal use.
• Avoid printing email. It's backed up on the server, which is a sufficient record for most purposes.
• Keep instructional printing to a minimum. SSCC funding is for research computing support. If you will be using a handout or article in a class or seminar, consider distributing photocopies of the article rather than having all the participants print their own copies. Read the information below on how you can submit print jobs electronically to the 6th floor copy center.
• Consider non-printing options for journal articles. Store your articles in PDF format either online or on CDs. Increasing printing costs over recent years are mostly due to the printing of journal articles.

SSCC members not adhering to these guidelines may lose their printing privileges. Keep in mind that agencies and departments may impose further restrictions on printing.

In-building Printing Alternatives

If you have print jobs not suitable for SSCC printers, consider these in-building alternatives:

1) Check with your department or agency to see if they have a suitable printer. For example, the Department of Economics provides a special printer for graduate students.

2) Print directly to printers at the Copy Center in 6120 Social Science. Charges vary depending on several factors, but it costs $.05/page for departments to print to 8.5x11 inch paper. Jobs submitted to Copy Center printers are held in a queue until you phone them with billing information or stop by and pay with cash or Wiscard. You can print directly to Copy Center printers from Winstat. Simply use the "COPY CENTER" queue to print to these printers. Note that turn-around time is usually one business day except during very busy times like around the beginning of semesters.

Research groups and departmental offices may want to consider making arrangements to send print jobs directly to the Copy Center from their office PCs. The Copy Center will need to install a special print driver. At least two SSCC research groups use this convenient means of printing, especially for large print jobs or when they need multiple copies. Contact the Copy Center (262-5396) if you are interested in pursuing this option.

If everyone reduces their printing volume by following the above guidelines, this will keep printing costs to a manageable level. Without everyone's cooperation though, we will be forced to impose further restrictions like quotas or charge-backs, something none of us want.